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Weather
Hazards and Tropical Weather
Almanac
Macon Calendar
Local and StateNews
Russo-UKrainian War Updates
National News Roundup
COVID-19 News and Updates
Science and Technology
Russo-Ukrainian War Videos (mostly long form)
On This Day
Support Macon Media
OUTLOOK
A warming trend is expected for the rest of the week and through the weekend. A cold front could bring our region a chance of rain early next week.
Paul Rondel
• Expenses for family of Paul Rondel [GoFundMe]
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Local Weather
General Forecast Through Saturday Night
Franklin Area
Today
Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with highs in the low-to-mid 70s. Calm winds early in the morning increasing to come out of the southeast around 5 mph by midmorning.
Tonight
Mostly clear, with lows in the mid-to-upper 40s. Calm winds.
Friday
Sunny, with highs near 80. Calm winds in the morning increasing to come out of the south around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Friday Night
Mostly clear, with lows around 50. Calm winds.
Saturday
Sunny, with highs near 80.
Saturday Night
Mostly clear, with lows around 50.
Highlands Plateau
Today
Patchy fog between 7am and 11am. Otherwise, cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with highs in the low-to-mid 60s. Winds out of the south around 5 mph.
Tonight
Mostly clear, with lows in the mid-to-upper 40s. Light winds out of the southwest.
Friday
Sunny, with highs near 70. Calm winds in the morning increasing to come out of the southeast around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Friday Night
Mostly clear, with lows around 50. Light and variable winds increasing and shifting to come out of the southeast around 5 mph before midnight.
Saturday
Sunny, with highs near 70.
Saturday Night
Mostly clear, with lows around 50.
Otto and South Central Macon County
Today
Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with highs in the lower 70s. Winds out of the southeast 3 to 5 mph.
Tonight
Mostly clear, with lows around 50. Calm winds.
Friday
Sunny, with highs near 80. Calm winds in the morning increasing to come out of the southeast around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Friday Night
Mostly clear, with lows in the lower 50s. Light winds out of the southeast.
Saturday
Sunny, with highs in the upper 70s.
Saturday Night
Mostly clear, with lows in the lower 50s.
Nantahala Area
Today
Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with highs near 70. Winds out of the southwest 3 to 6 mph.
Tonight
Partly cloudy, with lows around 50. Calm winds.
Friday
Sunny, with highs in the upper 70s. Calm winds.
Friday Night
Mostly clear, with lows in the lower 50s. Calm winds.
Saturday
Sunny, with highs in the mid-to-upper 70s.
Saturday Night
Partly cloudy, with lows in the mid 50s.
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Hazards and Tropical Weather
Hazardous weather is not expected today or tonight.
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Almanac
Air quality is in the lower range of yellow for most of the county, with the ridges and other higher elevations today being in the upper range of yellow .
Fire and Smoke Map
Local Air Monitor
Pollen
Pollen levels are expected to be in the high range (10.2 out of 12) today with Oak, Sweetgum, and Poplar being the main culprits. Tomorrow is expected to be in the high range (10.7 out of 12).
Record Weather Events for April 21st
Record weather events for this date in Macon County
(1872-2016)
Highest Temperature 87°F in Franklin in 1963
Lowest Temperature 20°F in Franklin in 1983
Greatest Rainfall 2.00 inches in Highlands in 1884
Greatest Snowfall 2.5 inches in Highlands in 1901
Record weather events for March in Macon County
Weather Extremes for Macon County for the month of April Data available from 1873 to 2018 Highest Temperature 91°F in Franklin on 04-26-1986
Lowest Temperature 13°F in Highlands on 04-01-1987
Greatest Rainfall 7.00 inches in Highlands on 04-07-1895
Greatest Snowfall 9.5 inches in Franklin on 04-04-1987
All-time record weather events for Macon County
Highest Temperature 101°F in Franklin on Jul 29, 1952
Lowest Temperature -19°F in Highlands on Jan 21, 1985
Greatest Rainfall 21.15 inches in Highlands on Jul 29, 1879
Greatest One-Day Snowfall 25.5 inches at the Coweeta Experimental Station on Mar 13, 1993
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Macon Calendar
(send your event to calendar@maconmedia.com)
THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK
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Local and State News
• Blue Ridge Parkway to receive $127 million for infrastructure projects [Watauga Online]
• Tribal LLC pursuing bid for two new casinos [Smoky Mountain News]
• The Mineral City: Exploring the Spruce Pine Mining District [Our State]
• NC GOP Senate candidates tangle over education, 2020 election results [WRAL-TV (Raleigh, NC)]
• 7 of 8 Republican candidates for NC-11 take part in debate hosted by WLOS [WLOS-TV (Asheville, NC)]
• Macon County Board of Commissioners - April 2022 Regular Meeting [Macon Media]
• Interactive map: average date of last spring freeze across the United States [Climate.gov]
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Special Section: Russo-Ukrainian War Updates
(sharing of a particular source is not an endorsement)
(Longer videos are in the Russo-Ukraine Videos section)
• Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, April 20 [Institute for the Study of War] [PDF]
Russia's sole war aim - Seizing Donbas region? | DW News
Russian attacks on Mariupol, eastern Ukraine continue | CBS News
JOMINI OF THE WEST MAP (April 19th)
1/ Ukrainian Theater of War, Day 52-54: The past 72 hrs. have seen Russian forces reduce Ukrainian defenses in Mariupol to the Azovstal area. Ukrainian forces around Kharkiv launch several successful counterattacks while Russia builds forces near Izium. #Ukraine #UkraineInvasion pic.twitter.com/Oy7ClGza3l
— Jomini of the West (@JominiW) April 19, 2022
Let’s talk: Q and A, News, Recent Updates (04-18-2022) | Operator Starsky
• Biden set to announce new military assistance for Ukraine [Stars and Stripes]
• New Russian missile will make enemies ‘think twice’, says Putin [Al Jazeera]
• Israeli weapon seen used by Neo-Nazi Ukrainian unit against Russia [Jerusalem Post]
• Macron and Le Pen clash on Russia in feisty debate ahead of presidential run-off [France 24]
• Donbas: Why Russia is trying to encircle Ukraine's east [BBC News]
• Russian Offensive Bears Down on Donbas as West Races to Supply Ukraine With More Weapons [Wall Street Journal]
News from Russian or pro-Russian outlets or Video About the Russian Perspective
• Russia successfully test fires ‘unique’ missile – Putin [Russia Today]
• What I See in Ukraine: PURE EVIL[Pravda ]
• Russia to end special operation after removing threats due to Ukraine capturing by NATO [TASS Russian News Agency]
The Ukraine War From Russia's Perspective
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National and World News Roundup
• Former head of state-run Chinese newspaper claims 'high probability’ of war with US [Next Shark via Yahoo! News]
• He Was a Penniless Donor to the Far Right. He Was Also a Russian Spy. [New York Times]
• U.S. FAA to make zero tolerance unruly passenger policy permanent [Reuters]
• San Francisco Police Officers Charged with Destroying Evidence [KNTV-TV (San Jose, CA)]
• Warden of NYC Jail Where Jeffrey Epstein Killed Self Retired Quietly Amid Investigation [WNBC-TV (New York City, NY)]
• Trump campaign ordered to pay $1.3m settlement to Omarosa Manigault Newman in NDA case [Independent]
• Texas Republican activist indicted over bungled election fraud probe [Courthouse News Service]
Supreme Court hears arguments on veterans' benefits and court filing deadline rules | PBS Newshour
• Can you sue the police for Miranda violations? Court will wrestle with rules, rights, and remedies for wrongs. [SCOTUSblog]
Global National: April 20, 2022 | Canada's inflation rate soars beyond predictions
NBC Nightly News Full Broadcast - April 20th, 2022
PBS NewsHour Full Episode April 20th, 2022
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COVID-19 News and Updates
Here is a section on COVID-19. It includes local, regional, state, national, and global items.
COVID-19 Numbers for Macon County: [November 18, 2021]
• WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard [World Health Organization]
Globally, as of 5:50pm CEST, 20 April 2022, there have been 504,079,039 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 6,204,155 deaths, reported to WHO. As of 18 April 2022, a total of 11,324,805,837 vaccine doses have been administered.
In United States of America, from 3 January 2020 to 5:50pm CEST, 20 April 2022, there have been 79,944,656 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 981,834 deaths, reported to WHO. As of 15 April 2022, a total of 552,480,933 vaccine doses have been administered.
• TWiV 891: LLOV in the time of Ebola [Microbe TV]
• DOJ appeals mask ruling after CDC says it is ‘necessary’ for public health [Courthouse News Service]
• Protection following BNT162b2 booster in adolescents substantially exceeds that of a fresh 2-dose vaccine[Nature]
• The Evolution and Biology of SARS-CoV-2 Variants [Cold Springs Harbor Perspectives in Medicine]
• Emergence of new subgenomic mRNAs in SARS-CoV-2 [BioArxiv (PDF)]
• About 30% of COVID-19 patients suffer from 'long COVID' - study [Jerusalem Post]
• Unvaccinated children hospitalized at twice the rate during Omicron surge -U.S. study [Reuters]
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Science and Technology News Roundup
• SpaceX shut down a Russian electromagnetic warfare attack in Ukraine last month — and the Pentagon is taking notes [Defense News via Yahoo! News]
• Elon Musk says Tesla hopes to produce a robotaxi with no steering wheel or pedals in 2024 [Business Insider]
• Netflix closes down 35% wiping more than $50 billion off market cap [CNBC]
• Tesla earned over $3 billion in profit in the first quarter [The Verge]
• Chinese navy shows off hypersonic anti-ship missiles in public [South China Morning postS]
• Newly-Released Documents Shed Light on Government-Funded Research Into Worm Holes, Anti-Gravity and Invisibility Cloaks [Vice News]
• 40 Million Core Chinese Exascale Supercomputer Performs Quantum Simulations [Tom's Hardware]
• Verizon Wireless Customers Report Outages Across US [CNET]
• US navy successfully tests giant laser against drones [PC Gamer]
• Free, legally available series/movies on YouTube in a Netlflix-like interface [Lamplight TV]
Podcasts and Long Form Videos
Anything from educational, entertainment, history, current events and technology
Skye Fitzgerald: Hunger, War, and Human Suffering | Lex Fridman Podcast #278
• Lifeboat, The New Yorker Documentary [The New Yorker]
SpaceX Falcon 9 Launches Starlink 4-14 Mission
SpaceX is targeting Thursday, April 21 for a Falcon 9 launch of 53 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The instantaneous launch window is at 11:14 a.m. ET, or 15:14 UTC, and a backup opportunity is available on Friday, April 22 at 10:53 a.m. ET, or 14:53 UTC.
The first stage booster supporting this mission previously launched GPS III-3, Turksat-5A, Transporter 2, and eight Starlink missions. Following stage separation, Falcon 9’s first stage will return to Earth and land on the Just Read the Instructions droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
A live webcast of this mission will begin about 15 minutes prior to liftoff.
Level1 News April 20 2022: The Inescapable Drone Of Advertising
Cranking Out Retro Games - DTNS 4258 | Daily Tech News Show
Something Happened To the Sun In 1600s Causing Maunder Minimum, Now It Happened to This Star
Audiobook : Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson
TWiV 891: LLOV in the time of Ebola
Elke, Adam, and Gabor join TWiV to discuss their work on Lloviu virus, a filovirus, including recovery of infectious virus from a DNA copy of the genome and from Schreiber's bats in Hungary.
Show notes at [Microbe TV]
#226 - Social Media and Scanning | Scanner School
EP 20 A Republic Lost at Sea | Hardcore History Addendum
Exploit Wednesday - Windows 11 Taskbar, Windows on ARM, Surface Laptop Go 2
Easy for Schmidt to Say | Coder Radio 461
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Russo-Ukrainian War Videos (mostly long form)
--> Can the West ever deal again with Vladimir Putin? | Conflict Zone
Russia pummels last Ukrainian defenders in port city Mariupol • FRANCE 24 English
Russia will allow some civilians to leave Mariupol, Ukraine - BBC News
Ukrainian journalist discusses crisis in Ukraine as Russian attacks intensify
Terror remains in Ukrainian villages as the threat of unexploded bombs looms large | ITV News
The Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Motives and Response | Dr. Daniel Kempton
Russia's War on Ukraine: Assessing the Risks of Nuclear Confrontation or Accidents | Northwestern Buffett
Panel: Europe after Putin’s war on Ukraine | ZEIT-Stiftung
A panel discussion on the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
Ukraine War: Mariupol troops 'outnumbered 10 to one' by Russians | Sky News
Three Key Reasons Why Russia Wants Control Over Ukraine | WSJ
Ukrainian bomb-sniffing dog helps clear bombs | ABC News
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On This Day
April 21 is the 111th day of the year (112th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 254 days remain until the end of the year.
Historical Events
Historical Events
(Please note that the Wikipedia articles often contain a bibliography and links to where you can learn more about a historical event)
753 BC – Romulus founds Rome (traditional date).
43 BC – Battle of Mutina: Mark Antony is again defeated in battle by Aulus Hirtius, who is killed. Antony fails to capture Mutina and Decimus Brutus is murdered shortly after.
900 – The Laguna Copperplate Inscription (the earliest known written document found in what is now the Philippines): the Commander-in-Chief of the Kingdom of Tondo, as represented by the Honourable Jayadewa, Lord Minister of Pailah, pardons from all debt the Honourable Namwaran and his relations.
1092 – The Diocese of Pisa is elevated to the rank of metropolitan archdiocese by Pope Urban II
1506 – The three-day Lisbon Massacre comes to an end with the slaughter of over 1,900 suspected Jews by Portuguese Catholics.
1509 – Henry VIII ascends the throne of England on the death of his father, Henry VII.
1526 – The last ruler of the Lodi dynasty, Ibrahim Lodi is defeated and killed by Babur in the First Battle of Panipat.
1615 – The Wignacourt Aqueduct is inaugurated in Malta.
1782 – The city of Rattanakosin, now known internationally as Bangkok, is founded on the eastern bank of the Chao Phraya River by King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke.
1789 – John Adams sworn in as 1st US Vice President (nine days before George Washington)
1789 – George Washington's reception at Trenton is hosted by the Ladies of Trenton as he journeys to New York City for his first inauguration.
1792 – Tiradentes, a revolutionary leading a movement for Brazil's independence, is hanged, drawn and quartered.
1802 – Twelve thousand Wahhabis sack Karbala, killing over three thousand inhabitants.
1806 – Action of 21 April 1806: A French frigate escapes British forces off the coast of South Africa.
1809 – Two Austrian army corps are driven from Landshut by a First French Empire army led by Napoleon as two French corps to the north hold off the main Austrian army on the first day of the Battle of Eckmühl.
1821 – Benderli Ali Pasha arrives in Constantinople as the new Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire; he remains in power for only nine days before being sent into exile.
1836 – Texas Revolution: The Battle of San Jacinto: Republic of Texas forces under Sam Houston defeat troops under Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
1856 – Australian labour movement: Stonemasons and building workers on building sites around Melbourne march from the University of Melbourne to Parliament House to achieve an eight-hour day.
1894 – Norway formally adopts the Krag–Jørgensen bolt-action rifle as the main arm of its armed forces, a weapon that would remain in service for almost 50 years.
1898 – Spanish–American War: The United States Navy begins a blockade of Cuban ports. When the U.S. Congress issued a declaration of war on April 25, it declared that a state of war had existed from this date.
1914 – Ypiranga incident: A German arms shipment to Mexico is intercepted by the U.S. Navy near Veracruz.
1918 – World War I: German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, better known as "The Red Baron", is shot down and killed over Vaux-sur-Somme in France.
1926 – Al-Baqi cemetery, former site of the mausoleum of four Shi'a Imams, is leveled to the ground by Wahhabis.
1934 – The "Surgeon's Photograph", the most famous photo allegedly showing the Loch Ness Monster, is published in the Daily Mail (in 1999, it is revealed to be a hoax).
1945 – World War II: Soviet forces south of Berlin at Zossen attack the German High Command headquarters.
1948 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 47 relating to Kashmir conflict is adopted.
1952 – Secretary's Day (now Administrative Professionals' Day) is first celebrated.
1958 – United Airlines Flight 736 collides with a United States Air Force fighter jet near Arden, Nevada in what is now Enterprise, Nevada.
1960 – BrasÃlia, Brazil's capital, is officially inaugurated. At 09:30, the Three Powers of the Republic are simultaneously transferred from the old capital, Rio de Janeiro.
1962 – The Seattle World's Fair (Century 21 Exposition) opens. It is the first World's Fair in the United States since World War II.
1963 – The first election of the Universal House of Justice is held, marking its establishment as the supreme governing institution of the Baháʼà Faith.
1964 – A Transit-5bn satellite fails to reach orbit after launch; as it re-enters the atmosphere, 2.1 pounds (0.95 kg) of radioactive plutonium in its SNAP RTG power source is widely dispersed.
1965 – The 1964–1965 New York World's Fair opens for its second and final season.
1966 – Rastafari movement: Haile Selassie of Ethiopia visits Jamaica, an event now celebrated as Grounation Day.
1967 РA few days before the general election in Greece, Colonel George Papadopoulos leads a coup d'̩tat, establishing a military regime that lasts for seven years.
1972 – Astronauts John Young and Charles Duke fly Apollo 16's Apollo Lunar Module to the Moon's surface, the fifth NASA Apollo Program crewed lunar landing.
1975 – Vietnam War: President of South Vietnam Nguyá»…n Văn Thiệu flees Saigon, as Xuân Lá»™c, the last South Vietnamese outpost blocking a direct North Vietnamese assault on Saigon, falls.
1977 – Annie opens on Broadway.
1982 – Baseball: Rollie Fingers of the Milwaukee Brewers becomes the first pitcher to record 300 saves.
1985 – The compound of the militant group The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord surrenders to federal authorities in Arkansas after a two-day government siege.
1987 – The Tamil Tigers are blamed for a car bomb that detonates in the Sri Lankan capital city of Colombo, killing 106 people.
1989 – Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: In Beijing, around 100,000 students gather in Tiananmen Square to commemorate Chinese reform leader Hu Yaobang.
1993 – The Supreme Court in La Paz, Bolivia, sentences former dictator Luis GarcÃa Meza to 30 years in jail without parole for murder, theft, fraud and violating the constitution.
2004 – Five suicide car bombers target police stations in and around Basra, killing 74 people and wounding 160.
2010 – The controversial Kharkiv Pact (Russian Ukrainian Naval Base for Gas Treaty) is signed in Kharkiv, Ukraine, by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev; it was unilaterally terminated by Russia on March 31, 2014.
2012 – Two trains are involved in a head-on collision near Sloterdijk, Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, injuring 116 people.
2014 – The American city of Flint, Michigan switches its water source to the Flint River, beginning the ongoing Flint water crisis which has caused lead poisoning in up to 12,000 people, and 15 deaths from Legionnaires disease, ultimately leading to criminal indictments against 15 people, five of whom have been charged with involuntary manslaughter.
2019 – Eight bombs explode at churches, hotels, and other locations in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday; more than 250 people are killed.
2021 – Indonesian Navy submarine KRI Nanggala (402) sinks in the Bali Sea during a military drill, killing all 53 on board.
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Published at 2:45am on Thursday, April 21, 2022
Author: Bobby Coggins
Resources used to compile the information in this article include, but are not limited to the following websites or books: MaconMedia.com, youtube.com, weather.gov, airnow.gov, wikipedia.com, onthisday.com, ncdcr.gov, ncsu.edu, utah.edu, https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/, wolfram.com, biorxiv.org, aps.org, nejm.org, plos.org, cell.com, researchsquare.com, cureus.com, spc.noaa.gov, nhc.noaa.gov, ncdenr.org, medrxiv.org, archive.org, ncpedia.org, nasa.gov, https://ww2days.com, nih.gov, carolinapublicpress.org, microbe.tv, smokymountainnews.com, psypost.org, blogspot.com, pollen.com, franklinnc.com, maconnc.org, spaceweather.com, solarham.com, loc.gov, ncleg.net, senate.gov, house.gov, whitehouse.gov, drudgereport.com, politico.com, realclearpolitics.com, ushmm.org, This Day in North Carolina History, World War II Day By Day, The Holocaust Encyclopedia, The Timetables of History, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The World History and Book of Facts (multiple years), On This Day In History: Over 4,000 facts, The NASA Archives. 60 Years in Space, This Day in North Carolina History, The Smithsonian History of Space Exploration: From the Ancient World to the Extraterrestrial Future, Spaceflight, 2nd Edition: The Complete Story from Sputnik to Curiousity, The Story of Civilization (11 volumes), The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, American History, Volume 1: 1492-1877, American History, Volume 2: 1877 - Present, A Complete Chronolgy of the Second World War. Weather and Almanac data and information sources: Sources (except where otherwise credited): heavens-above.com, Ian Webster's Github, National Centers for Environmental Prediction, The National Weather Service, National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, National Hurricane Center, Penn State University Electronic Wall Map, The State Climate Office of North Carolina, Storm Prediction Center, U.S. Naval Observatory, University of Utah Department of Atmospheric Sciences, and the Weather Prediction Center. Back to Top
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